20 Dollars Queen Elizabeth II

The polymer $20 introduced in 2012 — of which this 2015-dated example is part of the same series — replaced a cotton-paper note that had become one of the most counterfeited denominations in Canadian circulation. The shift to polymer was not a cosmetic upgrade; RCMP counterfeit detection data from the mid-2000s had made the $20 the priority case for redesign, well ahead of other denominations.

Canadian Bank Note Company produced the series at its Ottawa facility, continuing a relationship with the Bank of Canada stretching back decades. The transparent window with its integrated holographic elements was a direct engineering response to the specific vulnerabilities exposed by the previous series.